2:00 PM, January 17, 2014

By Jamie Samuelsen

Detroit Free Press Sports Writer

Jamie Samuelsen, co-host of the ďJamie and WojoĒ show at 6 p.m. weekdays on WXYT-FM (97.1), blogs for freep.com. His opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the Detroit Free Press nor its writers. You can reach him at jamsam22@gmail.com, follow him on Twitter @jamiesamuelsen and read more of his opinions at freep.com/jamie.

Trey Burke returns to Detroit tonight to take on the Detroit Pistons. Did Joe Dumars miss by passing on Burke to draft Kentavious Caldwell Pope?

As sports fans, we are fully entitled to create revisionist history.

For example, when the Detroit Lions drafted Mike Williams in 2005, many fans were intrigued by the pick. The Lions were going to match up Williams, Charles Rogers, Roy Williams and Joey Harrington in the same offense? What could possibly go wrong?

Well, it went wrong quickly. And just as quickly, the same fans that supported the Williams pick quickly argued that Matt Millen had messed up again and the Lions should have taken DeMarcus Ware or Derrick Johnson. Thatís what fans do. We praise you until itís clear you got it wrong. Then we rip you.

But thereís no revisionist history when it comes to Trey Burke and the Pistons. Everyone wanted the Pistons to take the Michigan point guard if was available at the No. 8 pick. And by everybody, I mean - everybody.

As the first round started to fall out, it became clearer and clearer that Burke would be there for the Pistons. The Cavaliers stunned the basketball world (and they clearly still havenít recovered) by taking Anthony Bennett first overall from UNLV. The rest of the draft went somewhat as expected to the point that when the Kings drafted just ahead of the Pistons at No. 8, Detroit knew it would either end up with Kansas star Ben McLemore or Burke. It may not have been a perfect scenario. But it was close.

The Kings took McLemore and the Pistons were forced to Ďsettleí for Burke who had a chance to be the best pure point guard the Pistons had drafted since Isiah Thomas and easily the best floor leader since Chauncey Billups was traded to Denver in 2008. Instead, Dumars pulled the stunner and grabbed Kentavious Caldwell-Pope from Georgia.

The reaction from the fans and the media was overwhelmingly negative. The Pistons needed a point guard almost as much as they needed an identity. Burke would have provided both. Granted, at the time, we didnít know that Dumars would be active during the summer acquiring Brandon Jennings from the Bucks to run the point. But in hindsight, why chase a shooting guard who plays point guard (Jennings) when you can grab a point guard who happens to be able to shoot (Burke).

Dumars knew the questions were coming that night in June. And while he sang Burkeís praises, he also took a not-so-subtle dig at what he perceived to be a little hometown cooking.

ďIf it was that much of an issue for me, then I would've just made the popular selection and walked out here and everybody would have said, 'OK, you drafted Trey Burke,'" Dumars said. "But that's not what you do."

No. Thatís not what you do. Ironic coming from Dumars when thatís exactly what he did in 2000 when he took Mateen Cleaves out of Michigan State. The difference, of course, is Cleaves was a gifted college player who had little chance of succeeding in the pros. Burke was a gifted college player who seemed destined to thrive in the pros given his equal abilities to create and to score.

Among the masses of Pistons fans that wanted Burke, Iím sure there were some looking through maize-and-blue goggles. But most people saw a transcendent player who had the personality to want the ball and the ability to score when his team needed it most. I resented Dumarsí implication that Burke was popular in Pistons nation because he was the local story. Burke was popular in Pistons nation because the team desperately needed a point guard and he was the best point guard in the draft. It was as simple as that, and it still is.

Burke plays at the Palace tonight leading a bad 13-27 Utah Jazz team. But the Jazz are only bad because Burke missed the first 12 games with a broken finger. Since he returned, the Jazz are 12-16 (they were 1-11 without him). And since he became a starter, the Jazz are 12-14.

Heís averaging 30.9 minutes, 13.6 points and 5.6 assists a game. Caldwell-Pope is averaging 24.3 minutes and 7.3 points. Itís unfair to put this all on Caldwell-Pope as he and the rest of the Pistons struggle to find comfortable roles and logical rotations. Thereís talent on this roster. There just happens to be a lot of players who are good at doing the same thing. And though Jennings is averaging a career-high 8.5 assists per game, you wonder if he might be more comfortable at the two with Burke running the show.

Dumars will long be remembered as an executive for winning a championship and for passing on Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to take Darko Milicic. As bad as that decision looks now, at the time, very few questioned it. Across the league, Milicic was a popular pick with what seemed like a great deal of upside.

Thatís not the case here. Burke was the pick. Burke still is the pick. And as the Pistons struggle along playing in front of half empty arenas, itís logical to wonder yet again why Dumars made the decision that he did.